Cops raid 5 CU halls; 20 machetes recovered

Police on Thursday conducted raids on five dormitories of Chittagong University (CU) and recovered some locally-made weapons, including 20 machetes.

The drives were conducted in Shah Amanat Hall, Suhrawardy Hall, AF Rahman Hall, Alawal Hall and Shaheed Abdur Rab Hall in the afternoon, a day after two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) locked in a clash during a procession over the verdict in the August 21 grenade attack cases.

On Wednesday, a speedy trial tribunal in Dhaka sentenced 19 people to death, 19 others, including BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, to life imprisonment and eight more to different terms of jail in two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in the capital in 2004.

CU police outpost in-charge Md Aktaruzzaman said they conducted the drives around 4 pm with the help of Hathazari Police Station.

During the drives, 20 machetes, iron rods, glass bottles, sticks and some other locally-made weapons were recovered from the dormitories, he said.

Additional policemen were deployed on the campus to fend off further trouble, said CU Proctor Ali Asgar Chowdhury.

Meanwhile, police arrested two BCL leaders from Suhrawardy Hall on Thursday afternoon over the clash.
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